TORONTO -- At exactly 3:15 last night, Tomas Kaberle, accompanied by a pair of team officials, emerged from an elevator, walked seemingly effortlessly to the back door of the Maple Leafs dressing room, then quietly slipped inside.

Having just arrived from New Jersey, Kaberle - at least on the outside - appeared no worse for wear from the cheap shot he got from New Jersey Devils pugilist Cam Janssen 19 hours earlier.

There were no huge welts on Kaberle's face nor was there a limp in his stride, but looks can be deceiving.

Kaberle is out indefinitely after general manager JohnFerguson confirmed Kaberle had suffered a concussion along with back spams and neck pains.

LEAGUE RULES

Concussed players must stay out of the lineup a minimum seven days according to league rules, but it could be much longer. Ferguson, in fact, was non-commital when asked if Kaberle would be back this season.

Janssen was slapped with a three-game suspension yesterday, but that was no consolation for the Leafs.

"This is not about punishment," Ferguson said. "We have no way of replacing Tomas Kaberle.

"There is no correlation between (the suspension) and the cost to our team. Do you maybe say that (Janssen) stays out of the lineup as long as Tomas does? Or do you make him play as many minutes a game as Tomas?"

Janssen has one point and has averaged less than five minutes per outing in 38 games this season, so maybe making him take a regular shift for the rest of the season would be a more appropriate punishment.

HOSPITAL RELEASE

While Kaberle was being released from Hackensack University Medical Center earlier yesterday, Janssen and Devils GM Lou Lamoriello were on a conference call with league disciplinarians Coliin Campbell, Mike Murphy and Stu Grimson. Campbell's decision was announced several hours later.

"Supplemental discipline is appropriate for this incident because of the lateness of the hit," Campbell said in a statement.

"Of course, I'm disappointed," Janssen said of the suspension. "I want to play every game, but if they've got to do this to me to set an example, then I've just got to deal with it.

"If (the play) was at centre ice, we wouldn't be talking right now, but it was against the boards and that's what did it," Janssen said.

The Devils winger plans on contacting Kaberle in the coming days.

"I definitely want to see him," Janssen said. "I wanted to see him after the game last night. If somebody did something to me like that, I want them to come and say 'hey' to me and see how I was doing."